This book sums up a lifetime of Jean Bingen’s work on understanding how this state and its monarchy were created and sustained, how Greeks and Egyptians formed separate and yet connected parts of the society, and how the peculiar circumstances of the Ptolemaic kingdom created both opportunities and insoluble tensions. Like all of Bingen’s work, it is marked by the influence of cultural sociology but is rooted in a deep knowledge of the Greek world.

It is essential reading for students and accessible and fascinating reading for the general public interested in ancient history. It is introduced by Roger S. Bagnall and ends with a conclusion by Jean Bingen in which he reflects on the course of the history of Ptolemaic Egypt during the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Original Sources of Chapters

List of illustrations

Glossary

Maps

Foreword

Introduction

Part I: The Monarchy

1. Ptolemy I and the quest for legitimacy

2. Ptolemy III and Philae: snapshot of a reign, a temple, and a cult

3. The dynastic politics of Cleopatra VII

4. Cleopatra VII Philopatris

5. Cleopatra, the diadem and the image

Part II: The Greeks

6. The Thracians in Ptolemaic Egypt

7. The Ptolemaic papyri and the Achaean diaspora

8. The Greek presence and the Ptolemaic rural setting

9. The urban milieu in the Egyptian countryside during the Ptolemaic period